{"id":220,"date":"2017-09-13T22:38:43","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T05:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/?p=220"},"modified":"2017-09-17T22:04:50","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T05:04:50","slug":"college-admissions-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/","title":{"rendered":"College Admissions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picture this: You are sitting at a desk, for hours on end. You read\u00a0hundreds of essays from applicants, all trying their best to seem impressive (but without overdoing it), \u00a0unique (but not to the point where they wouldn\u2019t fit in as a valuable asset to the institution), and smart enough (most likely by using \u00a0a thesaurus to find big words that no one really understands). Hard as they try, the attempt to seem impressive becomes a futile endeavour after the first 10 essays are read. They all carry serious, professional tones (which most people would deem appropriate for a college admissions essay) mentioning\u00a0things like, \u201cin my experience as a member of (insert generic extracurricular activity to appear responsible such as ASB, sports teams, or volunteer programs)\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

This was the image in my head when I pictured my admissions counselor. Writing my essay, I knew I\u2019d met the mark: I could \u00a0mention my experience as\u00a0an ASB representative, mock trial captain, or green team and French club president. I could talk about experience\u00a0on track, my near perfect GPA, \u00a0or my 600+ hours of community service. My options weren\u2019t limited; I knew I could play it safe, but I really didn\u2019t want to. My admissions counselor could read my laundry list of accomplishments in my resum\u00e9. There had to be something more I could write about. <\/span><\/p>\n

Again, the image of a bored admissions counselor came to mind, so I decided to take a risk. Everything I was advised not to do is what I did.\u00a0I was told to use the essay as another opportunity to highlight my accomplishments, to avoid jokes because everyone has a different sense of humor, and I was told, under no circumstances should I even reference profane language. I prayed my admissions counselor a) had a sense of humor, b) was a feminist, and c) wouldn\u2019t shred my essay\u00a0the minute she read the title: <\/span>Bitch.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0I began my essay with, \u201cI have always been described in one of two ways: first, <\/span>assertive<\/span><\/i>, and second, a much more negative locution of that\u2013 a term which would be unwise for me to include in a college application essay, but a blank I\u2019m sure you can fill in. (Personally, I prefer what some may call the euphemism, though the latter works just fine).\u201d I mentioned a few anecdotes, but\u00a0not a single major accomplishment. I wanted the essay to stand on its own, organically; I wanted it to be something I could be proud of. A laundry list would not be enough. <\/span><\/p>\n

In hindsight, my decision may have been a tad unconventional, and perhaps even unwise, but when admissions offers with scholarships arrived in the mail, I had few regrets. I don\u2019t know that my essay falls cleanly into the genre that is college admissions essays, nor do I know that I would recommend this same approach to everyone, but I do know that authenticity should never be sacrificed for the sake of pleasing others.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Picture this: You are sitting at a desk, for hours on end. You read\u00a0hundreds of essays from applicants, all trying their best to seem impressive (but without overdoing it), \u00a0unique (but not to the point where they wouldn\u2019t fit in Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":653,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nCollege Admissions - FYW 150 Multimodal Writing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"College Admissions - FYW 150 Multimodal Writing\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Picture this: You are sitting at a desk, for hours on end. You read\u00a0hundreds of essays from applicants, all trying their best to seem impressive (but without overdoing it), \u00a0unique (but not to the point where they wouldn\u2019t fit in Continue reading →\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FYW 150 Multimodal Writing\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-14T05:38:43+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-09-18T05:04:50+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"College Admissions\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-14T05:38:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-18T05:04:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":506,\"commentCount\":2,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/\",\"name\":\"College Admissions - FYW 150 Multimodal Writing\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-14T05:38:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-18T05:04:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"College Admissions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/\",\"name\":\"FYW 150 Multimodal Writing\",\"description\":\"First Year Writing\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"College Admissions - FYW 150 Multimodal Writing","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"College Admissions - FYW 150 Multimodal Writing","og_description":"Picture this: You are sitting at a desk, for hours on end. You read\u00a0hundreds of essays from applicants, all trying their best to seem impressive (but without overdoing it), \u00a0unique (but not to the point where they wouldn\u2019t fit in Continue reading →","og_url":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/","og_site_name":"FYW 150 Multimodal Writing","article_published_time":"2017-09-14T05:38:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-09-18T05:04:50+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"College Admissions","datePublished":"2017-09-14T05:38:43+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-18T05:04:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/"},"wordCount":506,"commentCount":2,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/","name":"College Admissions - FYW 150 Multimodal Writing","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-09-14T05:38:43+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-18T05:04:50+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/2017\/09\/13\/college-admissions-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"College Admissions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/","name":"FYW 150 Multimodal Writing","description":"First Year Writing","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293,"href":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions\/293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.sandiego.edu\/fyw150-multimodal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}